Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of patients with hydatid cysts in Khorasan Razavi Province, from 2011 to 2014

Background: This study aimed to investigate the epidemiological and clinical aspects of patients with hydatid cyst during 2011 to 2014. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Khorasan Razavi Prov-ince, the Northeast of Iran, from 2011 to 2014. The study population was all cases with hydatid cyst who diagnosed in governmental and private laboratories, hospitals and health centers (HC) in Khorasan Razavi Province during 2011-14. Results: The prevalence rate of hydatidosis was 1.44 per 100000 individuals. Of 357 cases, 54.9 were women, 40.3 rural, 45.8 housewives, and 3.4 were Afghan. The mean age of women was higher than that of men (39.13�18.9 compared to 34.7�17.9 yr, respectively, P-value=0.025). The highest proportion of cases (39.2) was in the age group of 21-40 yr old. Abdominal pain was re-ported in 42.3 of cases. Liver involvement was the most common localization of hydatid cyst reported in 59.4 of patients, and 8.4 had multiple organ in-volvement. The common diagnosis methods of the disease were radiology (42.3) followed by CT scan (37.8). 45.9 of patients had domestic dog and hygiene principles of washing the vegetables was adhered by 6.7 of patients. Conclusion: The prevalence of human hydatidosis, as a most important neglected disease, should be considered by health policy-makers in public health domain. In addition, educational programs to better recognition of the disease symptoms, and to identify the infection sources are needed in high risk group of population. � 2016, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS). All rights reserved

Pan-PPAR Agonist, Bezafibrate, Restores Angiogenesis in Hindlimb Ischemia in Normal and Diabetic Rats

Introduction. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of bezafibrate as a pan-PPAR agonist on angiogenesis and serum nitrite, the main metabolite of nitric oxide (NO), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and VEGF receptor-2 (VEGFR-2) concentrations in hindlimb ischemia model of normal and type I diabetic rats. Methods. 28 male Wistar rats were divided into control and diabetic groups. Then, all rats underwent unilateral hindlimb ischemia. After recovery, they were randomly assigned to one of the following experimental groups: (1) control; (2) control + bezafibrate (400 mg/kg/day); (3) diabetic; (4) diabetic + beztafibrate. After three weeks, blood samples were taken and capillary density was evaluated in the gasterocnemius muscle of ischemic limb. Results. Bezafibrate increased capillary density and capillary/fiber ratio in ischemic leg of diabetic and control rats (P < 0.05). Serum VEGF and VEGFR-2 concentrations did not alter after bezafibrate administration, however, serum nitrite concentration was significantly higher in bezafibrate-treated groups than non-treated groups (P < 0.05). Discussion. It seems that bezafibrate, as a pan PPAR agonist, restores angiogenesis in hindlimb ischemic diabetic animals and is useful for prevention and/or treatment of peripheral artery disease in diabetic subjects

Experimental Models of Thrombocytopenia in Laboratory Animals and their Application in Identifying the Complications of Chemotherapy Drugs

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Thrombocytopenia is one of the complications of chemotherapy drugs that may cause death. Different animal models of thrombocytopenia are used for clinical research and identification of its causes, each with advantages and disadvantages. The aim of this review article is to investigate the methods of thrombocytopenia induction in laboratory animals and their advantages and disadvantages. METHODS: This systematic review was conducted using the keywords “thrombocytopenia platelet”, “chemotherapy”, “animal model”, in PubMed, Science Direct and Scopus databases from 1990 until October 2017. The title and abstract of several articles were reviewed, and after excluding the unrelated items, final articles were selected and reviewed. FINDINGS: Animal models of thrombocytopenia are of two types of immune and non-immune. Non-immune models reduce platelet production through bone marrow suppression. Antiplatelet antibodies are used in immune models. The immune and non-immune thrombocytopenic models have some advantages and limitations and are selected according to the current therapeutic goals. Mice and rats are commonly used as laboratory animals, and cyclophosphamide and carboplatin are the most commonly used drugs. CONCLUSION: According to the results of this study, due to the limitations of human subject research in diseases that lead to thrombocytopenia, there is a need to develop appropriate animal models for studying and identifying the factors affecting thrombocytopenia

Global prostate cancer incidence and mortality rates according to the human development index

Background: Prostate cancer (PC) is one of the leading causes of death, especially in developed countries. The human development index (HDI) and its dimensions seem correlated with incidence and mortality rates of PC. This study aimed to assess the association of the specific components of HDI (life expectancy at birth, education, gross national income per 1000 capita, health, and living standards) with burden indicators of PC worldwide. Materials and Methods: Information of the incidence and mortality rates of PC was obtained from the GLOBOCAN cancer project in year 2012 and data about the HDI 2013 were obtained from the World Bank database. The correlation between incidence, mortality rates, and the HDI parameters were assessed using STATA software. Results: A significant inequality of PC incidence rates was observed according to concentration indexes=0.25 with 95 CI (0.22, 0.34) and a negative mortality concentration index of -0.04 with 95 CI (-0.09, 0.01) was observed. Conclusions: A positive significant correlation was detected between the incidence rates of PC and the HDI and its dimensions including life expectancy at birth, education, income, urbanization level and obesity. However, there was a negative significant correlation between the standardized mortality rates and the life expectancy, income and HDI

Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of patients with hydatid cysts in Khorasan Razavi Province, from 2011 to 2014

Background: This study aimed to investigate the epidemiological and clinical aspects of patients with hydatid cyst during 2011 to 2014. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Khorasan Razavi Prov-ince, the Northeast of Iran, from 2011 to 2014. The study population was all cases with hydatid cyst who diagnosed in governmental and private laboratories, hospitals and health centers (HC) in Khorasan Razavi Province during 2011-14. Results: The prevalence rate of hydatidosis was 1.44 per 100000 individuals. Of 357 cases, 54.9 were women, 40.3 rural, 45.8 housewives, and 3.4 were Afghan. The mean age of women was higher than that of men (39.13±18.9 compared to 34.7±17.9 yr, respectively, P-value=0.025). The highest proportion of cases (39.2) was in the age group of 21-40 yr old. Abdominal pain was re-ported in 42.3 of cases. Liver involvement was the most common localization of hydatid cyst reported in 59.4 of patients, and 8.4 had multiple organ in-volvement. The common diagnosis methods of the disease were radiology (42.3) followed by CT scan (37.8). 45.9 of patients had domestic dog and hygiene principles of washing the vegetables was adhered by 6.7 of patients. Conclusion: The prevalence of human hydatidosis, as a most important neglected disease, should be considered by health policy-makers in public health domain. In addition, educational programs to better recognition of the disease symptoms, and to identify the infection sources are needed in high risk group of population. © 2016, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS). All rights reserved

Estimation of the population attributable fraction of road-related injuries due to speeding and passing in Iran

OBJECTIVES: Speeding and passing are considered to be the main human factors resulting in road traffic injuries (RTIs). This study aimed to estimate the population attributeable fraction (PAF) of speeding and passing in RTIs in rural Iran during 2012. METHODS: The contribution of speeding and passing to RTI-related morbidity and mortality was estimated using the PAF method. The prevalence of speeding and passing was obtained from the national traffic police data registry. A logistic regression model was used to measure the association between the above risk factors and RTIs. RESULTS: Speeding accounted for 20.96 and 16.61 of rural road-related deaths and injuries, respectively. The corresponding values for passing were 13.50 and 13.44, respectively. Jointly, the PAF of these factors was 31.63 for road-related deaths and 27.81 for injuries. CONCLUSIONS: This study illustrates the importance of controlling speeding and passing as a high-priority aspect of public-health approaches to RTIs in Iran. It is recommended that laws restricting speeding and passing be enforced more strictly

Sulfonic acid functionalized imidazolium salts/ FeCl3 as novel and highly efficient catalytic systems for the synthesis of benzimidazoles at room temperature

AbstractIonic liquid 3-methyl-1-sulfonic acid imidazolium chloride/ FeCl3, as well as ionic liquid 1, 3-disulfonic acid imidazolium chloride/ FeCl3 catalytic systems, efficiently catalyzes the condensation of benzene-1, 2-diamine with aromatic aldehydes in the presence of atmospheric air as a green oxidant in ethyl acetate at room temperature to afford benzimidazole derivatives in high yields and in short reaction times. The reaction is also efficiently performed when carboxylic acids are used instead of aldehydes

Making Code Voting Secure against Insider Threats using Unconditionally Secure MIX Schemes and Human PSMT Protocols

Code voting was introduced by Chaum as a solution for using a possibly infected-by-malware device to cast a vote in an electronic voting application. Chaum's work on code voting assumed voting codes are physically delivered to voters using the mail system, implicitly requiring to trust the mail system. This is not necessarily a valid assumption to make - especially if the mail system cannot be trusted. When conspiring with the recipient of the cast ballots, privacy is broken. It is clear to the public that when it comes to privacy, computers and "secure" communication over the Internet cannot fully be trusted. This emphasizes the importance of using: (1) Unconditional security for secure network communication. (2) Reduce reliance on untrusted computers. In this paper we explore how to remove the mail system trust assumption in code voting. We use PSMT protocols (SCN 2012) where with the help of visual aids, humans can carry out $\mod 10$ addition correctly with a 99\% degree of accuracy. We introduce an unconditionally secure MIX based on the combinatorics of set systems. Given that end users of our proposed voting scheme construction are humans we \emph{cannot use} classical Secure Multi Party Computation protocols. Our solutions are for both single and multi-seat elections achieving: \begin{enumerate}[i)] \item An anonymous and perfectly secure communication network secure against a $t$-bounded passive adversary used to deliver voting, \item The end step of the protocol can be handled by a human to evade the threat of malware. \end{enumerate} We do not focus on active adversaries